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Report Your Bribes Via Smartphone App: First 2 Incidents in Armenia Already on the Map

The first two instances of corruption in Yerevan reported by members of the public on Bribespot appeared this month. Note, Bribespot is an application that allows anyone to report corruption anywhere in the world. Built by an international team with members from Estonia, Lithuania, Finland and Iran, Bribespot was launched in Tallinn, Estonia, in Apr. 2011.

In the first instance, a “police officer wanted 10,000 AMD (approx US $27) bribe to expedite registration of a new automobile,” according to the description posted by an anonymous user who noted that the incident took place on Jun. 2 at 11:55 am on Raffi St. in the Yerevan district of Malatia-Sebastia.

The second instance, reportedly taking place on Jun. 3 at 4:24 am in the Yerevan district of Erebuni, also involves the police:

“Only after police officers at the Department of Motor Vehicles received 30,000 AMD (US $80), in addition to the actual posted fees, would they unregister an automobile,” reads the description, again posted by an anonymous user.

“The more check-ins are made at a certain location, the more visible are corruption hotspots on the map,” the site says, and the more likely those in charge of a particular institution are to take heed. “That is where the real change starts,” the site adds, hopefully, reports The New York Times blog Bucks.

The idea behind Bribespot is that anyone can download the application and report on incidents of corruption anonymously — one can use a smartphone or any device with an internet connection to report incidents.

The app is available for Android phones and developers now have a functioning version for iPhone users. There are plans to offer the app on BlackBerrys and Windows Phone 7 next, followed by an sms-based service.